Rhode Island Brew Fest taps into craft beer boom

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — It wasn’t that long ago that watching television meant choosing from three networks and a PBS station. Today, viewers have hundreds of channels catering to the narrow interests of particular groups like foodies, animal lovers, spor

PROVIDENCE — It wasn’t that long ago that watching television meant choosing from three networks and a PBS station. Today, viewers have hundreds of channels catering to the narrow interests of particular groups like foodies, animal lovers, sports fans or shoppers.

Over the past few years, that’s been happening to beer, too.

“When I started in this business, bars had about six taps,” said Sean Larkin, owner of Revival Brewing Co. of Providence and president of the Rhode Island Brewers Guild. “Now some have 24.”

National sales figures bear this out. While overall beer sales have been flat, craft breweries have seen sales climb 15 percent to 20 percent over the last three years, according to the Brewers Association, a craft brewers’ trade group.

That craft beer boom has hit Rhode Island, Larkin said. The state has 14 breweries or pubs that brew their own beer, he said, with six breweries opening in the last year.

Like cable viewers today, beer aficionados with particular tastes are finding breweries trying to accommodate them. Hundreds of those consumers were at the Kennedy Plaza ice rink Sunday afternoon to attend the Rhode Island Brew Fest, where dozens of local, regional and national brewers were in town to offer samples of their wares.

The festival drew people like Nichole Pelletier, co-owner of Crooked Current Brewery of Pawtucket. Her business is still in the recipe stage, and she was at Kennedy Plaza to see what beer fans thought of the taste before trying to get a contract with a beer distributor.

“It’s the first time we’ve sampled,” she said. “We don’t have a distributor yet. If our recipe sucked, we didn’t want to sign one.”

Sunday’s taste-test reviews went very well, she said. For a start-up like Crooked Current, Pelletier said, events like Sunday’s are crucial for promoting the brand, by word of mouth and social media.

Crooked Current’s dilemma will be whether to try for a big distributor that carries a lot of clout with area liquor stores — but also sells the products of a lot of larger brewers — or a smaller distributor with fewer clients, where Crooked Current might get more attention.

Larkin said distributors like to have a varied list because craft brew buyers are interested in experimenting, so even if a brewery gets hot with a popular new offering, there are bunch of other brewers looking for the next new one after that.

“It’s never stagnant,” Larkin said. “You have to be quick on your feet. Customers are loyal, but they can be fickle, too.”

On the other side of the rink, physically and metaphorically, from Pelletier and Crooked Current, was Shawn Dunn, northeast sales manager for Uinta Brewing Company of Utah. In 21 years, Uinta has grown from the Salt Lake City market to one of the top 50 brewers in the nation, selling in 28 states.

The target market for craft brews was there to see at Kennedy Plaza, Dunn said: generally between 21 and 35, with a fairly equal mix of men and women. And with enough disposable income to be willing to pay the $35 to $55 it cost to get in.

He said the fragmentation of the beer market, and the increasing sophistication of customers who want more and different tastes, has created openings for brewers like Uinta to get started and grow.

“It’s amazing how fast customers have adapted and learned,” Dunn said. “About 15 years ago, if you asked people about wine they’d say ‘chablis and claret.’ Now, they know at least seven to 10 varieties of white and red wine. It’s exactly the same thing for beer.”

And if they find something they like, he said, they are willing to pay for it.

“It used to be $6 was price point for a six-pack,” he said, “now they’re at $10.99 and nobody blinks.”